nanoscale

Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

adj. Relating to or occurring on a scale of nanometers.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

adj. On a scale measured in nanometers

n. A measuring tool with gradations in nanometers.

n. The scale of nanotechnology.

Etymologies

nano- +‎ scale (Wiktionary)

Examples

However, after Rice University professors Robert Curl and Richard Smalley won the Nobel Prize (with Harold Kroto of the University of Sussex) for the discovery of buckminsterfullerene, Rice started a major research effort in nanoscale science and technology.

These feet covered in nanoscale fibers depending from thicker hairs, and the overall bundle is small enough that the van de Waals force -- "an interesting form of adhesion is that, unlike many glues, the surrounding environment does not affect it" -- creates a very high degree of waterproof, grease-proof, dirt-proof stickiness.

Defects, cracks and other phenomena that influence material strength and wear at macroscopic scales are less important at the nanoscale, which is why nanowires can, for example, show higher strengths than bulk samples.

And another Harvard team has developed nanoscale fibers that are thinner than the wavelengths of light they carry which may have applications in ever-shrinking medical products and tiny photonics equipment such as nanoscale laser systems, tools for communications and sensors.